Running Puppy

Question
We recently adopted a Cane Corso pup.  She was an older pup that had not sold from her breeder until she was almost 7 months old.  However once sold was then resold 3 days later, only to be returned and sold again to us.  All in less than 3 weeks.  Needless to say she came to us with some anxieties.  She would respond to fearful situations with growling.  Not aggression, but growling.  Being the type of dog she is and where we live (we are under Breed Specific Legislation), it was integral that we correct that behavior.  Using your methods, and a lot of socialization we have been able to show her that life is fun not scary.  Now, rather than cower, when the door opens she runs...it is a game.  She runs around our neighborhood, our street, ect...It ends in us having to corner her and tackle to get her safely contained.  We live on a busy street, in an area that hates pitbulls (everyone thinks she is one).  This is obviously not a safe situation for her or others.  She is friendly, loving, gentle and huge.  How can we stop her from taking off and running?  Note: due to her breed she is not welcome at our local dog park.

Answer
Hi Dani.  You'll need to teach your dog some basic obedience skills, including a sit/stay at the front door as well as a reliable recall.  Besides that, you need to do a lot of management so that she doesn't dart outside when the front door opens.  I would teach her to be in a certain place before the front door ever opens, like a mat or rug that's away from the immediate front door area.  This is also a place she can go whenever you have visitors come to the front door.

Teaching a stay is basically just training a long duration sit.  Put her in a sit, give her a verbal cue to "stay" and use one hand up, palm facing her as a stop signal in front of your chest.  While she remains in place, feed her a small treat.  Remind her to stay verbally and with your stop signal hand, and feed in quick repetitions.  Develop a release word or phrase ("OK", "all done", "free") that means it's OK to move out of the stay position.   You can clap your hands and encourage the dog to then come to you.  You always want to release before the dogs breaks the sit/stay position.

Gradually increase the length of time you ask her stay before you release her.  Increase the time between treats as she gets the idea of what "stay" means.  Once you have a solid 1 minute stay with you standing directly in front of her, you can begin to take a step backward and away from her - just one step at a time and you'll always return to her to give the treat.  Gradually increase distance until you can stand about 5 feet away from her in any position for 1 minute.  Only then should you begin to add distractions like walking toward the front door, touching the door handle, opening the door a crack, etc. and always going back to reward her in the stay.  If she breaks the stay at any point in the process, simply put her back in position and go back a couple of steps to where she was successful.

Teach the dog a recall by saying her name and when her head turns, praise her and have her return to you for a treat.  Begin teaching the recall in the house with no distractions, then work in a fenced yard, then on leash in the front yard only moving to a new location when she's very reliable in the previous place.  Don't use her name to call her if you're not in a position to reward with a high value treat.  Dogs often tune us out when we say their name because it doesn't mean anything to them.  Once you pair their name with a treat, that can re-establish that association to mean good things happen when you call them.

Here's a video of how to teach a "settle" - going to a specific place and staying:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRM0LeSBjxA&feature=related  Let me know if you have any questions after watching it.  Any time you hear the click, you can replace it with a verbal "yes!" unless your dog is already clicker-savvy.

I would highly recommend a positive training class to help you with these skills and to give you some other ideas on how to work to get reliability in the recall and stay.  Good luck and please let me know if you have further comments or questions.